scholarly journals Imprinting the quantum statistics of photons on free electrons

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. eabj7128
Author(s):  
Raphael Dahan ◽  
Alexey Gorlach ◽  
Urs Haeusler ◽  
Aviv Karnieli ◽  
Ori Eyal ◽  
...  

The interaction between free electrons and light stands at the base of both classical and quantum physics, with applications in free-electron acceleration, radiation sources, and electron microscopy. Yet, to this day, all experiments involving free-electron–light interactions are fully explained by describing the light as a classical wave. Here, we observe quantum statistics effects of photons on free-electron–light interactions. We demonstrate interactions passing continuously from Poissonian to super-Poissonian and up to thermal statistics, revealing a transition from quantum walk to classical random walk on the free-electron energy ladder. The electron walker serves as the probe in non-destructive quantum detection, measuring the second order photon-correlation g(2)(0) and higher-orders g(n)(0). Unlike conventional quantum-optical detectors, the electron can perform both quantum weak measurements and projective measurements by evolving into an entangled joint-state with the photons. These findings inspire hitherto inaccessible concepts in quantum optics, including free-electron-based ultrafast quantum tomography of light.

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-71
Author(s):  
E. A. Gurnevich ◽  
I. V. Moroz

The Smith-Purcell radiation of a charged particle moving in a periodic structure is analysed theoretically. The considered structure consists of two planar diffraction gratings with different periods which are formed by parallel conducting wires. The analytical expression for the spectral-angular distribution of radiation is obtained. It is shown that the angular distribution of radiation can be made narrower by using two gratings instead of one, and radiation intensity can be manipulated by parallel relative shift of gratings. The obtained results are of great importance for the research and development of high power radiation sources based on volume free-electron lasers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. eabe4270 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ben Hayun ◽  
O. Reinhardt ◽  
J. Nemirovsky ◽  
A. Karnieli ◽  
N. Rivera ◽  
...  

It is a long-standing goal to create light with unique quantum properties such as squeezing and entanglement. We propose the generation of quantum light using free-electron interactions, going beyond their already ubiquitous use in generating classical light. This concept is motivated by developments in electron microscopy, which recently demonstrated quantum free-electron interactions with light in photonic cavities. Such electron microscopes provide platforms for shaping quantum states of light through a judicious choice of the input light and electron states. Specifically, we show how electron energy combs implement photon displacement operations, creating displaced-Fock and displaced-squeezed states. We develop the theory for consecutive electron-cavity interactions with a common cavity and show how to generate any target Fock state. Looking forward, exploiting the degrees of freedom of electrons, light, and their interaction may achieve complete control over the quantum state of the generated light, leading to novel light statistics and correlations.


1995 ◽  
Vol 02 (04) ◽  
pp. 501-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.H. TOLK ◽  
J.T. MCKINLEY ◽  
G. MARGARITONDO

Synchrotron-radiation sources have become, since the late 1960’s, one of the fundamental experimental tools for surface and interface research. Only recently, however, a related type of photon sources - the free-electron lasers (FELs) — has begun to make important contributions to this field. For example, FELs have been used to reach unprecedented levels of accuracy and reliability in measuring semiconductor interface energy barriers. We review some of the present and proposed experiments that are made possible by the unmatched brightness and broad tunability of infrared FELs. Practical examples discussed in the review are supplied by our own programs at the Vanderbilt Free-Electron Laser. We also briefly analyze the possible future development of FELs and of their applications to surface and interface research, in particular, the possibility of x-ray FELs.


In a previous investigation it was found that the unusually high value for the Wiedemann-Franz ratio of tellurium could be explained as being only a formal anomally. The amount of heat transferred by the bound atoms is the same in tellurium as in conducting metals; but, in tellurium, in contrast to good conductors, it is responsible for almost the entire heat conductivity because the heat transferred by the free electrons is especially small. This indicates that tellurium differs from true metals in that the density of free electrons is very small. Classical statistics is therefore applicable and the electrical conductivity is given by x = 4/3 e 2 ln (2 πmk T) -5/9 , (1) where n is the density of free (conduction) electrons and l is their mean free path. Taking the specific resistance of tellurium at room temperature as 0.3 ohm-cm and l as 5.2 X 10 -6 cm (Sommerfeld's value for silver, found by applying Fermi-Dirac statistics), n is 2.9 X 10 16 , or about one free electron per million tellurium atoms in contrast to good conductors in which there is approximately one free electron per atom. Even in the limiting case with l = 3.2 X 10 -3 cm (the distance between the tellurium atoms), n is 4.7 X 10 18 which is about one free electron for every 6000 tellurium atoms.


Author(s):  
Jian Jiao ◽  
Zhixiong Guo

The ultrashort pulsed (USP) laser induced plasma-mediated ablation in transparent media is modeled and studied in this work. We propose that a certain number of free electrons are required to trigger the avalanche ionization for the first time. Based on this assumption, the ablation process is postulated as two separate processes — the multiphoton and avalanche ionizations. For USP laser induced ablation in the transparent corneal epithelium at 800 nm, the critical seed free-electron density and the time to initialize the avalanche ionization for pulse widths from picoseconds down to the femtoseconds range are calculated. It is found that the critical seed free-electron density decreases as the pulse width increases, obeying a tp−5.65 rule. Moreover, this model is also extended to the estimation of crater sizes in USP laser ablation of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The crater sizes ablated in a PDMS by a 900 fs pulsed laser at wavelength 1552 nm are modeled using the present model, and the results match with the existing experimental measurements.


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